1 Answer

Sorry there just to many ways to do this and besides IFIXIT focus is on the hardware side of things.

Depending on what the status of your old HD is here you have a few different directions.

If the HD is still in your mac get an external drive case (FireWire being the best, but USB will also work here) for your new drive. Install your new HD into the case, then plug in your drive. Your system should open up Disk Utility as the HD is virgin. Initialize and partition your drive making sure you have setup GUID. Then launch the OS installer app (Lion, Mountain Lion or Mavericks). Make sure you have selected your new HD. Once done you should be able to boot up under your new HD in the external case. You can use Migration Assistant to move you stuff over to your new drive.

If you have already taken your HD out because its dead then you'll need to find a friend to prep a USB thumb drive (using the same above process) and copy over to it the installer app. You could also put your system in to target mode and by using a FireWire cable between a second mac and your system use this other mac to install the OS onto your system.

Lastly, if you still have your CD/DVD that came with your system or a retail copy of OS-X (hopefully Snow Leopard) you can boot up prep your system with the OS on the CD/DVD. Then go online to the App Store and down load Mavericks. Then upgrade your install.